"After 20 years of hard work, Russia's strength is just around the corner"In 2000, Putin succeeded Yeltsin as Russia**, when Russia faced a grim situation.
He was full of confidence and promised to lead Russia back to its former glory within 20 years. Today, more than two decades into Putin's rule, Russia remains the world's great power, but it has not risen to the level it once was.
As the conflict between Russia and Ukraine becomes more and more complicated, the voices of the people questioning Putin have gradually risen, and his once rock-solid image has begun to waver. During Putin's administration, Russia did achieve something, but its economic development has always stagnated.
Why has it been difficult for Russia to escape the fate of decline?What steps did Putin take in the process?
When Putin first took office, he was faced with a country in disarray. However, it was thanks to his series of actions that Russia was able to regain its position as a world power.
During Putin's two decades in power, many remarkable achievements have been made. First of all, there is a significant increase in cohesion and solidarity within Russia. During the Yeltsin administration, the Chechen rebellion in Russia remained unresolved for a long time, which made people disappointed with Yeltsin**, and the Chechen rebellion became a chronic problem in Russia.
After Putin took over, his first task was to successfully quell the Chechen rebellion through resolute means, which not only strengthened Russia's prestige, but also enhanced domestic unity.
As soon as Putin took office, he showed himself in a tough style, which coincided with the fighting spirit of the Russian nation. In terms of territorial expansion, Putin has also performed well, and his actions are undoubtedly the most outstanding among Russian leaders after World War II, which has also won wide recognition and support from the Russian people.
In 2007, Russia occupied Abkhazia, which is disputed with Georgia, and a year later seized Georgia's South Ossetia by force. Russia's influence in the Black Sea region increased in 2014 with the acquisition of Crimea, and four eastern Ukrainian oblasts are likely to be incorporated into Russia after the invasion of Ukraine.
However, the situation between Russia and Ukraine is still very unclear, and the Ukrainian side said that it wants to recapture all the territories occupied by Russia, so there is still great uncertainty about whether Russia will be able to successfully take the four cities in eastern Ukraine.
Although it cannot be denied that Putin has indeed achieved many things for Russia in terms of territorial expansion since taking office, which is also an outstanding contribution of his. Putin's rise to power has significantly improved Russia's international standing, and although it has not been able to restore its superpower status during the Soviet era, it has also become one of the world's great powers.
During the Yeltsin period, Russia's international influence was very low, not comparable to that of the Soviet period, and it did not improve until Putin came to power.
Under Putin's leadership, Russia's remarkable wisdom in territorial expansion, the Syrian civil war, and its relationship with China has significantly enhanced Russia's global standing.
However, in the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Russia's actions have been strongly condemned by Western countries, leading to a significant decline in its international influence. On the economic front, Russia is also under tremendous pressure, and coupled with the sanctions imposed by Western countries, Russia's future development is facing severe challenges.
Although Russia's economy has recovered somewhat since Putin took office compared with the "shock**" of the Yeltsin era, it has not reached the level that a world-class power should have. For many years, Russia's economic development has been sluggish, the national living standards have not improved significantly, and the economic structure is relatively simple.
Since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the domestic economy has inevitably continued to decline, and from this point of view, Putin's economic policy has undoubtedly failed.
Russia's economic power has fallen out of the top 10 in the global GDP rankings, which is not in keeping with its status as a world power. While Putin has achieved some during his time in office, Russia's weakening seems inevitable on the whole.
This is mainly due to the serious problems in the political operating mechanism under Putin's leadership. Putin has been pursuing a top-down system of political reforms, which has over-depended on the ability of leaders for the country's development, which in turn has suppressed local independence, and the country has a huge potential crisis.
As a European country, Russia seems to have obstacles in its democratization, and its hard-line political style and power politics are far from what the modernization process of other European countries requires.
In order to modernize, Russia needs to take an important step on the path to democratization.
Putin chose this model, mainly due to the domestic political environment, some oligarchs control the country through capital. In such cases, adopting a tough policy is the most effective solution.
It has also been proven that Putin has quickly stabilized the influence of the oligarchs on the country through tough measures, but this method can only be used in exceptional circumstances, and once it is necessary to stabilize the development of the economy, it will have serious consequences.
Power politics has led to a poor investment climate in the country, and businessmen and capitalists face high risks in the investment process, so many capitals choose to leave Russia.
Due to the massive loss of capital, the impetus of the Russian economy is largely dependent on internal self-regulation and development policies, which are clearly not enough for a large country.
This has led to the fact that Russia's economy has deviated from the track of normal development, and the country's strength has continued to weaken. Despite Putin's attempts to boost the country's strength, the economic woes are further exacerbated by the scarcity of available talent and the large number of state administrators, but administrative inefficiency and serious corruption are serious.
In addition to political factors, there are also problems with the structure of the Russian economy, as a resource power, Russia has abundant natural resources, but these resources have not been effectively used to provide a strong guarantee for the development of the country.
The country's economic stability is threatened by a homogeneous economic structure, over-reliance on resource exports, and a lack of sustainable manufacturing support. At the same time, sparse population is also a challenge for national development.
According to statistics, the total population of Russia in 2019 was just over 140 million people, which is somewhat insufficient compared to its largest territory in the world. In the long run, over-reliance on energy exports exposes the country's economy to more risks, and the country could fall into crisis if the international market changes.
Russia's population size is not commensurate with its status as a great power, and its negative population growth is particularly pronounced, with Ethiopia's population still numbering more than 110 million people, although its population is much lower than that of Russia.
Russia's demographic woes are largely due to the weakness of its economic power, which has led to a continuous decline in fertility. Coupled with Russia's vast territory, many young and middle-aged people are engaged in national defense, which makes the labor force for development extremely scarce.
The sparse population will inevitably lead to the decline of Russia's national power, and may even lead to an endless cycle of development of the country. In addition to this, the external pressure on Russia is also very severe, and the pressure from Western countries is an important factor that leads to Russia's weakening.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Yeltsin adopted a comprehensive pro-Western policy, hoping to gain the support of Western countries. Unfortunately, his idealized ideas did not work out. As a result of the shift to the West, Russia was not only not aided, but was used by Western countries.
There are two main reasons for the disapproval of Russia by Western countries. First, the Soviet Union's strong power in the past, the long-term bipolar pattern made the United States very vigilant, and Western countries feared that the rise of Russia would once again threaten their position.
In terms of history and culture, there are significant differences between Russia and Western countries. Historically, Russia was once a Mongol territory and was heavily influenced by Mongol culture, especially inherited the mongol fighting spirit.
In contrast to the mainstream Catholicism or Protestantism in Europe, Russia believes in Orthodox Christianity, which also leads to their religious differences, which in turn leads to their isolation from Western countries.
Despite the fact that Russia is a European country, it is not in harmony with Europe in many ways, which has made Western countries reluctant to admit Russia. By the time Yeltsin realized this, Russia was already in a serious crisis.
To solve this problem, Yeltsin chose to let the hard-line Putin take his place, which may also be one of the best decisions he has ever made. After taking office, Putin did successfully deal with the problems left by Yeltsin, but his hard-line methods also affected Russia's relations with Western countries.
Watching Russia's gradual recovery, Western countries began to renew their vigilance, and in order to prevent Russia's rise, they began to try their best to suppress Russia, which made Russia lose the opportunity to develop.
In the more than two decades that Putin has been in power, Russia's relations with Western powers have not improved significantly, and tensions with the United States have continued unabated. Therefore, Russia will continue to fall into isolation, Western countries will not relax sanctions against Russia, and without external push, Russia's internal development will face many difficulties.
Against the backdrop of an increasingly politically inclined international economic policy, Russia is under the dual pressure of protectionism and exchange rate policy, and its economic development has been slow.
Driven by the technological age, Russia, which has always been based on energy, is facing enormous challenges. Failure to adapt to the trend of the times is one of the key factors in Russia's weakening.
Coupled with the sluggish development of the domestic high-tech industry, it will be difficult to achieve a major breakthrough in science and technology as long as Russia's relations with the West are not improved. The outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict has intensified Russia's relations with Western countries, and various repressions and economic sanctions will continue to intensify, and Russia's prospects are still full of uncertainty.
Against this backdrop, Putin's more than two decades of rule can hardly be considered a success, and if the status quo continues, Russia will inevitably weaken.
During Putin's years in power, Russia has been plagued by internal and external troubles. While some progress has been made in some areas, it has failed to address the underlying issues.
There are two major crises in Russia: first, the process of political democratization has stalled, and the bureaucracy is only interested in personal interests and lacks effective management mechanisms; Second, the economy is overly dependent on resource development, the industrial structure is out of touch with the development trend of the world economy, and the manufacturing industry, which was once proud, is gradually declining.
Diplomatic relations with Western countries have not been improved, especially after the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Russia's relations with Western countries have completely broken down, and the country's external situation is very grim.
Therefore, the future of Russia remains uncertain, and the direction of the development of the country as a whole depends on how Putin adjusts.